A SOCIOLINGUISTIC SURVEY AND DOCUMENTATION OF ENDANGERED TURKIC VARIETIES IN POST-SOVIET KAZAKHSTAN Saule Tazhibayeva Irina Nevskaya Eurasian National University (Astana, Kazakhstan) Frankfurt University (Frankfurt, Germany) Jamalbek Tussupov Ralf Gehrke Eurasian National University (Astana, Kazakhstan) Frankfurt University, Cedifor (Frankfurt, Germany) Outline of the Lecture 1. General information about Kazakhstan and its sociolinguistic situation 2. Language diversity in Kazakhstan and Turkic ethnic groups 3. Sociolinguistic data collection and possibilities of data analysis 4. Kazakhstani Turkish community: sociolinguistic data of the project 5. Language documentation of endangered Turkish varieties in Kazakhstan 1. Kazakhstan General Information 1.1 Location: Kazakhstan (Қазақстан) is situated in the center of the Eurasian continent. The country extends from east to west for more than 3,000 kilometers, and from north to south for 1,700 kilometers. Kazakhstan borders on China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. 1.2 Population: Kazakhstan is a multiethnic, multilingual and multicultural country, which gained its independence in 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. During the Soviet era, the number of non-Kazakhs got bigger than the number of Kazakhs in the Kazakh SSR. 1.2.1 The reasons for decrease in Kazakh population: - the forced collectivization in the 1920ies and 1930ies which resulted in a famine in 1932-1933, - repression of the Kazakh elite and the Great Purge in the 1930ies, - massive emigration of the Kazakhs, - a high death rate on the front lines during the Second World War. 1.2.2 Reasons for increase of non-Kazakh population in the 20th century Kazakhstan became a recipient of many refugees from different regions of the Soviet Union due to: - deportation during the collectivization period in the USSR; - deportation during the period of the Second World War; - industrialization during the Second World War; - Virgin Land Campaign during the 1950ies and 1960ies. (Nevskaya, Tazhibayeva, 2015a: 322-323) Many others (especially Slavs) came voluntarily to work in cities as factory workers, in government/Communist Party administration and other fields. These events strongly influenced the ethnic-demographic and sociolinguistic situation in Kazakhstan. From a monolingual Kazakh country, it turned to Kazakh-Russian bilingual one with a strong Russian dominance. The language situation of non-Kazakhs is more complicated. 2. Language Diversity in Kazakhstan 2.1 Language rights More than 130 languages are spoken in Kazakhstan. Different ethnic groups living in Kazakhstan have the rights to develop and learn their traditional languages in cultural centres or Sunday schools. Language are taught by the representatives of ethnic groups, their salary is paid by the state budget. Representatives of the deported ethnicities have got financial compensation. Young generation of Kazakhstani small ethnicities get a special quota for entering Universities. Big ethnic groups have state-operated primary and secondary schools (Russians, Uzbeks, Uyghurs, Tajiks, Ukrainians, Poles). Teachers of Uzbek and Uyghur are trained at Kazakh Universities. (Nevskaya, Tazhibayeva, 2015b:300) Kazakh is the state language, Russian is an official language and has the same rights as the state language. Kazakhstan does not grant any other languages official status as a regional language, local language, or minority language. 2. Language Diversity in Kazakhstan 2.2 Turkic ethnicities in Kazakhstan. General Information The Turkic-speaking community is the largest in Kazakhstan. Representatives of 24 Turkic languages live here (http://www.eng.stat.kz). The majority of Kazakhstani Turkic-speaking communities are multilingual. They are fluent in their native language, Kazakh, and Russian. This especially concerns bigger Turkic ethnicities as Uzbeks, Uyghurs, Azeri, and Turks. Small Turkic ethnicities are mostly monolingual in Russian. Nationalities Census of 2009 2.3 Reasons of migration Azeri 85.292 Altai 221 Speakers of many Turkic languages and their varieties in Balkar 1.798 Kazakhstan were separated from the main bulk of their speech Baškir 17.263 communities mainly Chakass 223 Čuvaš 7.301 • in the course of deportation from the Caucasus in 1944 Dolgan 3 (Turkish ethnic groups: Ahiska, Hemshilli, Laz, etc.), Karačays, Gagauz 493 Balkars, and Crimean Tatars; Yakut 119 Karaim 231 • in the period from 1935 to 1937, the time of creating collective Karakalpak 2.828 farms and nationalization of private property of wealthy Karačai 995 Kirgiz 23.274 peasants in the Soviet Union (e.g. Azerbaijanis, Kumyks, Krimčak 35 Nogays); Kumyk 481 Nogai 276 • some migrated to Kazakhstan even earlier (Tatars, Uzbeks) Tatar 204.229 Krim-Tatar 1.532 The results of the census (to the left) should be taken into Šor 96 account with cautiousness, as our survey showed. Tuwan 37 Endangered or non-studied Turkic varieties are a special topic of Turkish 97.015 this lecture. Turkmen 2.234 Uzbek 456.997 Uighur 224.713 3. Sociolinguistic data collection and analyses of the data: the international project International project “Interaction of Turkic Languages and cultures in the post-Soviet Kazakhstan”: 2014-2017 is funded by the Volkswagen-Foundation Main objectives: sociolinguistic and linguistic data collection, database creation In cooperation with 3.1 Sociolinguistic data collection and analyses of the data The sociolinguistic data were obtained by means of a questionnaire composed for this purpose and presented to representatives of various Turkic ethnic groups in Kazakhstan. All the obtained data are stored in open-access online databases, (see http://tyurki.weebly.com) presenting the already processed 2235 interviews. 3.1 The table form of our databank All the information is stored in the databank. The databank allows for filtering the data according to 191 parameters (age, education, occupation, migration history, ethnic identity, language use, language attitudes, etc.) that can be combined according to the users’ needs. The obtained information is visualized in the form of diagrams and tables with different filters. The answers of the respondents’ are recorded in the database, after completing the questionnaire. All the information is stored on the Google Drive server. 3.2 How to use Table Filters Multiple filtering is possible to use for getting necessary information, e.g. we are interested in the Turkish diaspora of Kazakhstan, particularly in women living in the Zhambyl region of Kazakhstan, who work in the sphere of services. You are recommended to: 1. Choose the column C (citizenship) use filter and select "KAZAKHSTAN" from the drop- down list. 2. Choose the column D (ethnicity) use filter and select "TURKS" from the drop-down list. 3. Choose the column N (Gender) filter and select "female” from the drop-down list. 4. The list of respondents is shortened as we are interested only in Turkish women living in the South of Kazakhstan, residences of Zhambyl region. 5. Use the filter to select professions from the drop-down list. It illustrates only 2 Turkish women. They are living in Zhambyl region of Kazakhstan, and busy in the sphere of service. So, the list of respondents illustrated in the Table satisfies our needs. 3.3 Data visualization Another possibility of the databank usage is combining filters with Data visualization. All the data are divided into 7 subgroups on the project site www.tyurki.weebly.com E.g.: We are interested in the representatives of Turkish ethnicity, leaving in Kazakhstan with respect to their self-identification, nationality of their fathers, mothers, language proficiency, the role of the native language in the family etc. Турки. Местожительство в Казахстане 45,1 % - Жамбылская область 12,6 % - Акмолинская 10,2 % - СКО 8,3 % - ВКО 3,9 % - Алматинская 2,4 % - ЮКО 2,4 % - Карагандинская 1 % - Кызылординская 14,6 % - нет данных 4. Kazakhstani Turkish community: sociolinguistic and linguistic data of the project According to the Kazakhstan census data (1970-2009) the number of Turks was constantly increasing: 1970 – 18456 1979 –25820 1989 –49475 1999 – 75933 2009 –97015 206 interviewees of the Turkish ethnic group participated in the survey. 195 of them (89,2%) are citizens of Kazakhstan. Besides, there are citizens of Turkey, Russia, Kirgizstan, Uzbekistan living in Kazakhstan now. The families of 49 respondents (23.8 %) were not deported to Kazakhstan in 1944; 40 (19.4%) respondents’ families were deported to Kazakhstan. The rest of the participants did not give any answer to this question. 4.1 Kazakhstani Turkish community: deportation to Kazakhstan Our field research data helped to shed light on Kazakhstani Turks, who are represented by two groups: Ahiska Turks and Karadenizli Turks, previously known as Meskhetian Turks. On November 14, 1944, the Turkish population was deported from Georgia to Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kirgizstan) without permission to return back to their historical place of settlement. In Kazakhstan, they live in the southern regions: Almaty, Jambyl, Shymkent. The descendants of the deported Turks speak different varieties of Turkish, or other Oghusic Turkic (Azeri), their varieties have not been documented prior to this project. Languages of Turkish sub-ethnic groups have kept some archaic features and developed innovative ones. Innovative features have emerged through contacts with other languages of Turkic origin, such as Kazakh, Kirgiz, Uzbek, Tatar, or languages of non-Turkic origin, such